Monday, March 21, 2011

Meatless Monday: Chickpea and Tomato Soup with Pimentón

I needed to look up some Portuguese recipes for a friend last weekend and obviously I turned to the very helpful Leite's Culinaria website. I did find the recipes I was looking for, plus a lot more. One of them was this simple, yet delicious soup recipe, originally from Tamasin Day-Lewis's book "Supper for a Song: Creative Comfort Food for the Resourceful Cook". I've adapted the recipe a little to suit our tastes, and we'll be definitely making this again. Puréeing some of the chickpeas/garbanzos to thicken the soup was a neat idea, and you can add more or less pimentón (aka smoked paprika) depending on the freshness and strength of your paprika powder.

While it's filling, it's also gluten-free and vegan, so perfect recipe for a Meatless Monday.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, garlic, celery and rosemary and fry for a few minutes, until the aromatics are beginning to soften.
Add the chickpeas, smoked paprika, bay leaves, tomato paste and chopped tomatoes. Give it a stir and bring into a boil.
Add the stock, season with salt and pepper and bring into a boil again. Then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves.
Using a hand-held/immersion blender, purée some of the soup, leaving some of the chickpeas whole.
Divide between warmed soup bowls, garnish with parsley and serve.

Hola!I am a Spanish (for my english, you have noticed) who has lived 5 years in Austria. I cook this dish (garbanzos con tomate) very often because, apart from healthy, is the flavor of "Spain" :-) If you want to cook them with a more "exotic" style, try putting a bit of curry Moroccan (Ras el hanout type) with a topping of shrimp. It's nothing traditional but is really delicious...

Also, in my bag never miss a package of paprika from La Vera, the most famous in my country.

Wow! This soup sounds really delicious. I came around Your blog when looking for a recipe for condensed milk and berries, found this very interesting and will definitely visit again. I am from Finland, and Your recipes are extremely suitable for us. We do, indeed, have a estonian deli next to my job, which I would love to use more often. Maybe with Your recipes I will! Thanks, love, Päivi.